(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

ALLAN CUP

Innisfail Eagles advance to first ever Allan Cup final

Apr 12, 2019 | 7:51 PM

In their first ever appearance in the Allan Cup, the Innisfail Eagles are flying into the championship final.

The Eagles beat defending champion Stoney Creek 3-2 Friday afternoon at Lacombe’s Gary Moe Sportsplex in the first of two semi-finals.

Innisfail led 2-1 after 40 minutes, and found themselves deadlocked with the Generals at two goals apiece midway through the third. That included a goal by Shawn Bates (1G, 2A) which came with just two seconds left in the middle frame to give the Eagles momentum.

Then, with 3:39 to go in regulation, 38-year-old Justin Cox potted the game-winner and capped off an impressive bounceback for the Eagles who lost both round robin games, including a 4-1 defeat to Stoney Creek.

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Cox, a native of Merritt, BC, described it as relief seeing the puck go in the net.

“Coach Sutter has been preaching since the first day we got here how important every single guy is in the room,” he said.

“So many guys in that room have so much heart and determination, and when you really like and love the guys in the room, you’ll do what it takes to get it done.”

Seeing as both teams in the other semi-final — Lacombe and Rosetown — play in the same league as Innisfail, Cox admits they’ve got a lot to go on in preparation for the title matchup.

“It’ll come down to a lot of heart and determination,” he said. “Xs and Os matter, but at the same time, how much effort you’re going to put in and how hard you’re going to lay it on the line, I think that’s going to be the key. We’ll be ready to go.”

Meantime, head coach Brian Sutter was elated in the hallway post-game.

“We had six new guys in the lineup tonight and they all contributed. You’ve got to respect who you’re playing against, but after that, youv’e got to decide how the game goes,” Sutter said, also commenting on the performance of his goaltender Allen York, who made 27 stops for the win.

“If you’ve got a good goalie, you’ve got a good chance of winning every game. We were missing our number one, two and three goalies for six weeks. We battled through, but we’re not done.”

Lacombe plays Rosetown for the other spot in the final Friday night at 8 p.m.

The sold-out championship game starts Saturday at 6 p.m. The game is also being broadcast on TSN.